Aleix Espargaro has accused the Pramac MotoGP team of lying about his clash with Danilo Petrucci in Argentina in a heated exchange on Twitter.
Petrucci was involved in an early collision with Aprilia man Espargaro, which went unpunished by Race Direction.
Espargaro was also hit by Marc Marquez at Turn 13 during the race – which he was given a penalty for – though the Spaniard felt Petrucci's actions were much more dangerous than the Honda rider's, and vented his anger about the Italian getting away without a penalty on Twitter after the race.
“Sanctioning Marc Marquez for his action is fair, but Petrucci beat me up much stronger and is not sanctioned. Not good,” he stated.
The Pramac team has since released a statement regarding the incident, claiming the it “did not cause any consequence” to either rider's race, and does not feel it should be held in the same regard as the other high-profile collisions which occurred.
“The contact between Danilo Petrucci and Aleix Espargaro did not cause any consequences for the continuation of the race of both riders, but is nonetheless being considered in the same ways as the contact that saw Johann Zarco and Marc Marquez oust Dani Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi from the race.
“Danilo Petrucci himself was touched by [Hafizh] Syahrin on the last lap, having to widen his trajectory and allow Andrea Iannone to pass.”
Espargaro responded on Twitter to the post, saying: “Ha, he hit me harder than Marquez did! Bullshit! The picture is there, don't lie to everybody. Petrucci is always riding like this.”
Pramac team boss Francesco Guidotti weighed in on Espargaro's comments, referencing the Aprilia rider's crash and resulting collision with Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso in Argentina last year.
“Anyway, Petrucci has been softer than you with Dovizioso [in] Argentina 2017. You stop [your] bullshit and try to do it in the Safety Commission, not Twitter.”
Espargaro retorted: “You are nobody to tell me what I have to do. And, yes, I made a big mistake with Dovi and I apologised to him. And I didn't say bullshit and lie [to] the people as your team is doing.”
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